Patriot 911 Triathlon Series #4 2013 – THE SPRINT

I’ve been feeling… off. The first run I did, my “shake out” run a couple days after Miami consisted of 4.2 miles was awesome. I felt good. Then… well, I rested some more.

Last Saturday, I went on a 20 mile ride?? I forgot my garmin… rode for the length it took me to drink half my water bottle turned back.

Then I ran again this past Thursday. First time I ever went out for a 3 mile run and didn’t want to finish it. I ran 1.5 stopped… stood there for a while… then jogged about a mile and stopped again. TO WALK HOME. Who does that? I don’t. I just couldn’t do it. My mind was screaming STOP. It sucked. I was so super down on myself. So down… that I just down uploaded my Garmin so that I could tell you what day this ran happened on!

ANYWAYS. Mandi has been “off.”

BUT then I saw a post from Zoot Sports. If you like them on Facebook I am sure you know what I am talking about. They are accepting applications for amateur athletes.

This sparked my attention – lit my fire again.

Mandi remembered why she loves triathlon.

I love the pain. I love the community. I love hard work. I love the early mornings. I love crossing that finish line. Triathlon makes me happy. I love it. I love you triathlon! 🙂

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU LOVE SOMETHING?

YOU GO GET IT!

Therefore I found an effin race and I decided to do it.

In walks the Patriot 911 Triathlon Series.

Veteran’s Day Weekend

9/11 – my birthday

Sounds good.

The race is about 2 hours north of Miami. So I looked into it as much as I could. I decided that if I was to do it… I wanted to win. hahaha, its a small race… obviously. I think there were about 35 people doing the sprint… about 10ish women.

So. Sunday morning we packed up and headed North to Alaska!

Hahaha no. Not Alaska, just Fort Pierce, Florida.

I signed up for the Sprint, morning of.

Nice and easy. I got this.

.25 mile swim – 11 mile bike – 3 mile run

THE SWIM

.46 miles 16:37

What was suppose to be .25 mile swim turned into .46 mile swim.

This was NOT me swimming crazy, it was the current that carried the markers out further than they were originally placed 🙂

I didn’t mind. The water was chilly (74) but once we started it was #PERFECTO

For not swimming in two weeks I felt great, ocean was dead still (they call it a river – its an inlet – salt water… to me, Mandizona, that is the OCEAN) I was feelin’ it!!

Not the fastest swim ever, 16:37 official time with running up to transition, 15:25 in the water. I’ll take it! That’s a whopping 1:50something 😛

Getting out of the water… my stomach turned sour… I tried to haul butt to T1 and get on the bike.

T1: 46 seconds

THE BIKE

11 miles – 35.22 – 18.7mph

I wanted to average 20mph. I knew that was going to be somewhat of a crazy goal but I thought… hey 11 miles… MAYBE!? Lets try.

Mandi HAS to bike more. It’s just how it goes.

Hello trainer. Meet Mandi. You are now BFF’s.

Once I got on the bike my heart rate was crazy, my breathing was out of control and my stomach wanted to hurl itself onto the sidewalk.

The entire ride I was drooling all over myself… trying to not puke.

I finally calmed down a couple miles in and took control over my breath… but the stomach was NOT HAPPY.

Other than that… well the bike was uneventful, my race buddy and I switched back and forth (he/I wasn’t going to let a woman pass me) and towards the end I was just pushing myself to keep up.

I did however have in mind “BLOW UP OR THROW UP” the entire way…

I was willing to throw up and not ready to blow up.

I didn’t want to do either!!

I kept up with my race buddy and headed into

T2 – 32 seconds

THE RUN

3 miles – 24:15 (8:05 min/m)

My stomach wasn’t happy with me.

My race buddy wanted to go fast. It was my goal to keep him in sight.

Thank god for random people that become friends… without saying but a couple words.

(one of the many reasons I love triathlon and running)

I was about .75ish miles into the the run and I saw the leader. He was rocking it…

I knew it was time… so of course I start counting the ladies…

About 1.2ish miles in I saw the first one.

OKAY 1.

Then I saw another right before the 3 mile turn around…OKAY 2.

As my stomach revolted… I make the turn around and about .2 miles I see lady number 3… BEHIND ME.

HOLY CRAP. Being chased makes my mind HTFU.

I RAN. I RAN as fast as I could those last miles.

She never passed me.

I never passed anyone else (girls).

And I kept my buddy in sight! He even cheered me on as I crossed the finish line!

THE FINISH

1:17

Holy cow. I came in THIRD.

No win but at least a podium… right….

SO… there I am standing at the awards happy with my 3rd pace finish

(I seriously didn’t perform my best… the race was not close to my best)

AND THEY CALL MY NAME.

WHAT? I look around… MANDI NILSEN!!??

FIRST PLACE OVERALL WOMAN.

Holy crap. How did that happen?

Hello duathlon & masters?? HUH? WHAT?

IT’S MINE! I’LL TAKE IT!!

hahaha. Awesome.

Mandi is ready to rock it.

My goals are growing out of control and I have to do the work to keep up with them.